“Will you listen to her?” laughed Crazy Jane.  “Little Tommy Thompson fell off the mountain to furnish us with excitement.  Of course we are satisfied.  We forgive you for all your tricks, and we don’t care how much excitement you furnish if you will only keep your feet on something solid.  We came within a little of all going over with you in our fright.”

“Ithn’t that nithe?” glowed Tommy.  She was recovering her spirits.  “I thhould have had company.”

“That is a very ill-timed remark, Tommy,” answered Miss Elting in a severe tone.  “I am surprised at your flippancy.  I really believe you enjoyed our fright.”

“Yeth.  Didn’t you hear me laugh when I wath down there?”

“I wouldn’t say such things if I had made as much trouble as Tommy has,” declared Margery.

“Of courthe you wouldn’t,” agreed Tommy.  “You haven’t a thenthe of humor.”

“Some people have no sense at all,” flung back Buster.

“We have forgotten something,” interrupted Harriet.  “Tommy’s blanket is down there somewhere.  We ought to have it before going on in the morning.  You may keep mine for to-night, if you wish.  You are going to sit up the rest of the night, are you not, Mr. Grubb?”

“Yes.  I’ll take no more chances with this party on Sokoki Leap.  I’ll keep the fire going the rest of the night, too.  Fix your blankets so your feet will be toward the fire.  The Indians would say, ’Indian keep him head cool, feet warm.’”

“We have done better than that this evening,” answered Jane laughingly.  “We managed to keep our head and feet warm at the same time.”

“I should say we have,” mused Harriet.  “But what about the blanket?  We do not wish to lose it.”

“I’ll go down and get it in the morning,” said Janus.  “You needn’t wait breakfast for me; I’ll have something to eat before leaving.  But do be careful.  I don’t want to have the little one falling down the rocks and landing on my head when I get there.  Better turn in as soon as possible, young ladies.  We have a mighty hard trail ahead of us in the morning, and some more slippery granite to climb.  Another thing, you’d better put another belt on Miss Thompson.  You’ll find some leather and a buckle in my kit.  There’s sewing material there also.”

“How far shall we have to climb?” asked Hazel.

“’Bout a thousand feet, as a bird flies,” Janus answered, with a careless gesture.

“Ob, thave me!” wailed Tommy desperately.  “I can’t thtand any more.”

“Why, Tommy, we’ve hardly begun yet,” Harriet retorted smilingly.

“Maybe you haven’t, but thome of uth have about finithed,” asserted the little, lisping girl.

“For once, Tommy and I agree,” groaned Margery.

Not long after the girls turned in for the second time that night.  Daybreak would soon send its gray light into their camp on Sokoki Leap.  But the day ahead of them was not fated to be, in all respects, a time of calm.  Tommy Thompson and even her better-poised companions were to have further opportunities for distinguishing themselves.